Today, art enjoys a wide network of study, dissemination and preservation of all the artistic legacy of mankind throughout history. The 20th century has seen the proliferation of institutions, foundations, art museums and galleries, in both the public and private sectors, dedicated to the analysis and cataloging of works of art as well as exhibitions aimed at a mainstream audience. The rise of media has been crucial in improving the study and dissemination of art. International events and exhibitions like the Whitney Biennial and biennales of Venice and São Paulo or the Documenta of Kassel have helped the development of new styles and trends. Prizes such as the Turner of the Tate Gallery, the Wolf Prize in Arts, the Pritzker Prize of architecture, the Pulitzer of photography and the Oscar of cinema also promote the best creative work on an international level. Institutions like UNESCO, with the establishment of the World Heritage Site lists, also help the conservation of the major monuments of the planet.[2]

The field of "art history" was developed in the West, and originally dealt exclusively with European art history, with the High Renaissance (and its Greek precedent) as the defining standard. Gradually, over the course of the 20th century, a wider vision of art history has developed. This expanded version includes societies from across the globe, and it usually attempts to analyze artifacts in terms of the cultural values in which they were created. Thus, art history is now seen to encompass all visual art, from the megaliths of Western Europe to the paintings of the Tang Dynasty in China.

In the Iron Age the cultures of Hallstatt (Austria) and La Tene (Switzerland) mark the significant phases in Europe. The first was developed between the 7th and 5th century BCE by the necropoleis with tumular tombs and a wooden burial chamber in the form of a house, often accompanied by a four-wheel cart. The pottery was polychromic, with geometric decorations and applications of metallic ornaments. La Tene was developed between the 5th and 4th century BCE, and is more popularly known as early Celtic art. It produced many iron objects such as swords and spears, which have not survived well, but bronze continued to be used for highly decorated shields, fibulas, and other objects, with different stages of evolution of the style (La Tene I, II and III). Decoration was influenced by Greek, Etruscan and Scythian art.[12] In most of the continent conquest by the Roman Empire brought the style to an end.

Sculpture was developed through wood carving and relief and was used in religious, military and hunting scenes, depicting both human and animal figures, whether they were real or mythological. In the Sumerian period there were small statues of angular form, with colored stone, bald head and with hands on the chest. In the Akkadian period there were figures with long hair and beard, noting the stele of Naram-Sin. In the Amorite period (or Neosumerian) notable is the representation of king Gudea of Lagash, with his mantle and a turban on his head and his hands on the chest. During Babylonian rule famous is the stele of Hammurabi. Assyrian sculpture is notable for its anthropomorphism of cattle and the winged genie, which is seen flying in many reliefs depicting war and hunting scenes, as in the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III.[14]

With the advent of writing, arose literature as a means of expressing human creativity. The Sumerian literature is represented by the Epic of Gilgamesh, written in the 17th century BCE. In it were written thirty myths about the most important Sumerian and Akkadian deities, which are: Innanas descent to hell and the cycle of gods Enki and Tammuz. Another example of relevance is the poem Lugal ud melambi Nirpal (The hardship of Ninurta), whose content type is moral and didactic. During Akkadian period notable is Atrahasis, which includes the flood myth. In Babylonian literature notable is the poem Enûma Eliš, which describes the creation of the world.[15]

The music was developed in this region between 4th and 3rd millennium BCE, used in Sumerian temples, where priests sang hymns and psalms (ersemma) to the gods. The liturgic chant was composed of responsories—song alternated between the priests and choir—and antiphons—song alternated between two choirs. They had several instruments like tigi (flute), balag (drum), lilis (predecessor of timpani), algar (lyre), zagsal (harp) and adapa (pandeiro).[16]

In Egypt arose one of the first great civilizations, with elaborate and complex works of art, which assume the professional specialization of the artist/craftsman. Its art was intensely religious and symbolic, with a highly centralized power structure and hierarchy, giving great importance to the religious concept of immortality, especially of the pharaoh, for whom were built great monuments. The Egyptian art spans from 3,000 BCE until the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great. However its influence persisted in the Coptic art and Byzantine art.

Painting was characterized by the juxtaposition of overlapping planes. The images were represented hierarchically, i.e., the Pharaoh is larger than the subjects or enemies at his side. Egyptians painted the head and limbs in profile, while the shoulders and eyes in front. Applied arts were developed significantly in Egypt, in particular woodwork and metalwork, with superb examples like cedar furniture inlaid with ebony and ivory of the tombs at the Egyptian Museum, or the pieces found in Tutankhamun's tomb, which are of great artistic quality.[17]

Greek and Etruscan artists built on the artistic foundations of Egypt, further developing the arts of sculpture, painting, architecture, and ceramics. The body became represented in a more representational manner, and patronage of art thrived, at this time.

Roman art is sometimes viewed as derived from Greek precedents, but also has its own distinguishing features. Roman sculpture is often less idealized than the Greek precedents. Roman architecture often used concrete, and the round arch and dome was invented at this time.

The Renaissance is the return yet again to valuation of the material world, and this paradigm shift is reflected in art forms, which show the corporeality of the human body, and the three-dimensional reality of landscape. Although textbooks periodize Western art by movements, as described above, they also do so by century, especially in Italian art. Many art historians give a nod to the historical importance of Italian Renaissance and Baroque art by referring to centuries in which it was prominent with the Italian terms: trecento for the fourteenth century, quattrocento for the fifteenth, cinquecento for the sixteenth, seicento for the seventeenth, and settecento for the eighteenth.

The physical and rational certainties of the clockwork universe depicted by the 18th-century Enlightenment were shattered not only by new discoveries of relativity by Einstein[18] and of unseen psychology by Sigmund Freud,[19] but also by unprecedented technological development accelerated by the implosion of civilization in two world wars. The history of 20th-century art is a narrative of endless possibilities and the search for new standards, each being torn down in succession by the next. Thus the parameters of Impressionism, Expressionism, Fauvism, Cubism, Dadaism, Surrealism, and other art movements cannot be maintained as significant and culturally germane very much beyond the time of their invention. Increasing global interaction during this time saw an equivalent influence of other cultures into Western art, such as Pablo Picasso being influenced by Iberian sculpture, African sculpture and Primitivism. Japonism, and Japanesewoodcuts (which had themselves been influenced by Western Renaissance draftsmanship) had an immense influence on Impressionism and subsequent artistic developments. The influential example set by Paul Gauguin's interest in Oceanic art and the sudden popularity among the cognescenti in early 20th century Paris of newly discovered African fetish sculptures and other works from non-European cultures were taken up by Picasso, Henri Matisse, and by many of their colleagues.

Modernism, in its response to the idealistic 19th century search for truth, and the century's progress in general, gave way in the latter decades of the 20th century to a realization of that idealism's unattainability. Rapid advances in science and technology were accepted as an unavoidable truth, which led to the late Modern and Postmodern period. In these periods, cultures of the world and of history are seen as changing forms, which can be appreciated and drawn from with occasional irony. Furthermore the separation of cultures had become increasingly blurred and it has become more appropriate to think in terms of a global culture, rather than regional cultures.

The history of art in the Americas begins in pre-Columbian times with Indigenous cultures. Art historians have focused particularly closely on Mesoamerica during this early era, because a series of stratified cultures arose there that erected grand architecture and produced objects of fine workmanship that are comparable to the arts of western Europe. Among the widely read textbooks is one by Mary Ellen Miller titled The Art of Mesoamerica.

The art-making tradition of Mesoamerican people begins with the Olmec around 1400 BCE, during the Preclassic era. These people are best known for making colossal heads but also carved jade, erected monumental architecture, made small-scale sculpture, and designed mosaic floors. Two of the most well-studied sites artistically are San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán and La Venta. After the Olmec culture declined, the Maya civilization became prominent in the region. Sometimes a transitional Epi-Olmec period is described, which is a hybrid of Olmec and Maya. A particularly well-studied Epi-Olmec site is La Mojarra, which includes hieroglyphic carvings that have been partially deciphered.

By the Late pre-Classic era, beginning around 400 BCE, the Olmec culture had declined but both Central Mexican and Maya peoples were thriving. Throughout much of the Classic period in Central Mexico the city of Teotihuacan was thriving, as were Xochicalco and El Tajin. These sites boasted both grand sculpture and architecture. Other Central Mexican peoples included the Mixtecs, the Zapotecs, and people in the Valley of Oaxaca. Maya art was at its height during the “Classic” period—a name that mirrors that of Classical European antiquity—and which began around 200 CE. Major Maya sites from this era include Copan where numerous stelae were carved in the round, and Quirigua where the largest stelae of Mesoamerica are located along with zoomorphic altars. A complex writing system was developed, and Maya illuminated manuscripts were produced in large numbers on paper made from tree bark. Although Maya cities have existed to the present day, several sites ”collapsed” around 1000.

At the time of the Spanish conquest of Yucatán during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Maya were still powerful, but many communities were paying tribute to Aztec society. The latter culture was thriving, and it included arts such as sculpture, painting, and feather mosaic. Perhaps the most well-known work of Aztec art is the calendar stone, which has become a national symbol of the state of Mexico. During the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire many of these artistic objects were sent to Europe, where they were placed in cabinets of curiosities, and later redistributed to art museums. The Aztec empire was based in the city of Tenochtitlan which was largely destroyed during the colonial era. What remains of it was buried beneath Mexico City. A few buildings, such as the foundation of the Templo Mayor have since been unearthed by archaeologists, but they are in poor condition.

Art in the Americas since the conquest has been a mixture of indigenous and foreign traditions, including European, African, and Asian settlers. Thus, books about the visual arts of the United States, such as Francis Pohl’s Framing America, start with the conquest and reconstruct manifold traditions. Numerous indigenous traditions thrived after the conquest. For example, the Plains Indians created quillwork, beadwork, winter counts, ledger art, and tipis in the pre-reservation era, and afterwards became assimilated into the world of Modern and Contemporary art through institutions such as the Santa Fe Indian School which encouraged students to develop a unique Native American style. Many paintings from that school, now called the Studio Style, were exhibited at the Philbrook Museum of Art during its Indian annual held from 1946-1979.

Religious Islamic art often forbids depictions of people, as they may be misused as idols. Religious ideas are thus often represented through geometric designs instead. However, there are many Islamic paintings which display religious themes and scenes of stories common among the three main monotheistic faiths of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism.

Eastern art has generally worked in a style akin to Western medieval art, namely a concentration on surface patterning and local colour (meaning the plain colour of an object, such as basic red for a red robe, rather than the modulations of that colour brought about by light, shade and reflection). A characteristic of this style is that the local colour is often defined by an outline (a contemporary equivalent is the cartoon). This is evident in, for example, the art of India, Tibet and Japan.

The long story of African Art includes both high sculpture, perhaps typified by the brass castings of the Benin people, as well as folk art. In the ancient world, Egypt is often thought of as the greatest artistic culture of Africa, but it is also rivaled by Nubia, which was located in present-day Sudan. Concurrent with the European Middle Ages, in the eleventh century CE a nation that made grand architecture, gold sculpture, and intricate jewelry was founded in Great Zimbabwe. Impressive sculpture was concurrently being cast from brass by the Yoruba people of what is now Nigeria. Such a culture grew and was ultimately transformed to become the Benin Kingdom, where elegant altar tusks, brass heads, plaques of brass, and palatial architecture was created. The Benin Kingdom was ended by the British in 1897, and little of the historical art now remains in Nigeria. Today, the most significant arts venue in Africa is the Johannesburg Biennale.

The Art of Oceania includes the geographic areas of Micronesia, Polynesia, Australia, New Zealand, and Melanesia. Nicholas Thomas’s textbook Oceanic Art treats the area thematically, with essays on ancestry, warfare, the body, gender, trade, religion, and tourism. Unfortunately, little ancient art survives from Oceania. Scholars believe that this is likely because artists used perishable materials, such as wood and feathers, which did not survive in the tropical climate, and there are no historical records to refer to this most material. The understanding of Oceania's artistic cultures thus begins with the documentation of it by Westerners, such as Captain James Cook in the eighteenth century. At the turn of the twentieth century the French artist Paul Gauguin spent significant amounts of time in Tahiti, living with local people and making modern art—a fact that has become intertwined with Tahitian visual culture to the present day. The indigenous art of Australia often looks like abstract modern art, but it has deep roots in local culture.

The experience of art history, as conveyed by art museums, tends to be organized differently from that of textbooks due to the nature of collections and the institutions themselves. Rather than a full march through time, museums employ curators who assemble objects into exhibitions, often with unique commentary that is later reinterpreted by docents. Because they have the responsibility to store objects, museums develop taxonomies for their collections, using conventions of classification authority for the sake of consistency. This may be undertaken with the museum’s archivist. The result is to occasionally find a strong emphasis on the history of media in conjunction with the history of culture.

In addition to upstanding practices, a black market exists for great art, which is closely tied to art theft and art forgery. No auction houses or dealers admit openly to participating in the black market because of its illegality, but exposés suggest widespread problems in the field. Because demand for art objects is high, and security in many parts of the world is low, a thriving trade in illicit antiquities acquired through looting also exists. Although the art community nearly universally condemns looting because it results in destruction of archeological sites, looted art paradoxically remains omnipresent. Warfare is correlated with such looting, as is demonstrated by the recent archaeological looting in Iraq.

Both the making of art, the academic history of art, and the history of art museums are closely intertwined with the rise of nationalism. Art created in the modern era, in fact, has often been an attempt to generate feelings of national superiority or love of one’s country. Russian art is an especially good example of this, as the Russian avant-garde and later Soviet art were attempts to define that country’s identity.

Most art historians working today identify their specialty as the art of a particular culture and time period, and often such cultures are also nations. For example, someone might specialize in the 19th-century German or contemporary Chinese art history. A focus on nationhood has deep roots in the discipline. Indeed, Vasari's Lives of the Artists is an attempt to show the superiority of Florentine artistic culture, and Heinrich Wölfflin's writings (especially his monograph on Albrecht Dürer) attempt to distinguish Italian from German styles of art.

Many of the largest and most well-funded art museums of the world, such as the Louvre, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington are state-owned. Most countries, indeed have a national gallery, with an explicit mission of preserving the cultural patrimony owned by the government—regardless of what cultures created the art—and an often implicit mission to bolster that country’s own cultural heritage. The National Gallery of Art thus showcases art made in the United States, but also owns objects from across the world.

The study of the history of art is a relatively recent phenomenon; prior to the Renaissance, the modern concept of "art" did not exist. Over time, art historians have changed their views about what art is worthy of scrutiny. For example, during the early Victorian era, the 15th-century Italian artists were considered inferior to those of 16th-century High Renaissance. Such a notion was challenged by the Pre-Raphaelite movement. There has since been a trend, dominant in art history of the 21st century, to treat all cultures and periods neutrally. Thus, Australian Aboriginal art would not be deemed better or worse than Renaissance art—it is just different. Art historical analysis has also evolved into studying the social and political use of art, rather than focusing solely on the aesthetic appreciation of its craftsmanship (beauty). What may once have been viewed simply as a masterpiece is now understood as an economic, social, philosophical, and cultural manifestation of the artist's world-view, philosophy, intentions and background.